Alex Jones Ordered To Pay Nearly $1 Billion In Damages In Sandy Hook Defamation Trial Verdict

Alex Jones is now on a court-ordered hook for over $1 billion after yesterday's verdict in his defamation trial saw the judge order Jones to pay each of the fifteen plaintiffs sums between $28.8 million and $120 million in damages.

The total sum of yesterday's ordered damages adds up to about $965 million. Earlier this summer, he was ordered to pay two Sandy Hook parents $45.2 million, putting his total damages over $1 billion so far.

Breaking: A Connecticut court rules Alex Jones owes Sandy Hook victims over $1 billion.

— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) October 12, 2022

Here's a breakdown of what Alex Jones was ordered to pay to Sandy Hook families and an FBI agent https://t.co/RhlZXIlkLJ pic.twitter.com/6bz6PjRI5S

— WTNH News 8 (@WTNH) October 12, 2022

Jones spent much of the last decade claiming that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a government hoax, causing some of his followers to harass the families of the deceased victims. In testimonies, plaintiffs alleged that followers of Jones had urinated on the graves of the deceased, threatened to dig them up and wrote rape threats to survivors. Robbie Parker, who was awarded $120 million, received a significant amount of harassment as a result of Jones' conspiracy theories, as Jones characterized Parker as a "disgusting" actor in the wake of the events.

Jones almost certainly does not have the funds he's been ordered to pay. Jones' InfoWars empire is estimated to be worth about $270 million. His infamous diet supplements, gun paraphernalia and survivalist gear which he hawks on his show are estimated to bring him $50 million a year. It is unclear how much of the awarded damages the plaintiffs will actually see, though experts believe the verdict dooms Jones to being "broke for the rest of his life."

Harry Litman reacts to jury ordering Alex Jones to pay nearly $1 billion to Sandy Hook families: "We're talking about such outsized numbers that even if he's able to bob and weave some, I just don't see how he winds up anything but basically broke now for the rest of his life." pic.twitter.com/PvK90nm2UV

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) October 12, 2022

Jones remained defiant through the trial. Though he admitted that Sandy Hook was "100% real," he publicly maintained the trial was a "kangaroo court" orchestrated by the Left to put Infowars out of business. He and his lawyers characterized the trial as an attack on free speech.

Online, many were glad to see Jones get such a stunning comeuppance for spreading harmful conspiracy theories toward grieving families. Several laughed Jones' characterization of the verdict as an attack on free speech.

No amount of money is enough punishment for Alex Jones but I also don’t believe in the death penalty, we need to have more in-between things like “pay a billion dollars AND eat this jar of scorpions.”

— Daniel Kibblesmith (@kibblesmith) October 13, 2022

Alex Jones did not upset a regime. He lied about a bunch of dead children who were murdered in their school and spread innuendo about their parents. This isn't about free speech. It is about using free speech to slander dead and innocent children. That has consequences.

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) October 13, 2022

"You just want bad things to happen to Alex Jones because you don't like him personally." Yes correct.

— Dr. Timeline, PhD (@GarbageApe) October 12, 2022

Incredibly, this isn't the end of the defamation trial saga for Jones. A third trial is tentatively scheduled for later this year in Austin, Texas.